Week 6

We received our final 6 week project and were required to make a biomimetic smart surface. The assignment is very open ended which made it difficult to come up with a project as we could take the assignment and our three thousand dollars and go in whichever direction we choose. Our group had several meetings where we each presented our ideas of what direction the project could take. As a result, we came up with a list:

• sphere that responds to stimuli
• sea cucumber inspired surface
• boxes that for furniture
• collection of surfaces that mimic a shoal of fish
• blimps that hover by a light 
• spider web of fiber-optics
• device that moves on the ground and interacts with people
• surface that falls apart and rebuilds
• plants that move toward water
• fancy coffee maker
• seeded paper
• wall of stacked shapes that makes sound
• anemone surface
• wall covering that shrinks and expands

Through a series of long discussions it was narrowed down to the collection of surfaces that mimics a shoal of fish and the wall of stacked shapes that make sound. We discussed each project further, took a break for the night, and resumed the next day to make a decision. After much compromise in the form, it was decided that we would go with the collection of surfaces that moved similar to a shoal of fish on a window. There was the possibility of them being autonomous so we decided to explore mechanisms for movement on a track and independently on a grid or mesh which would be placed over the window. Unfortunately, the majority of the mechanisms were never prototyped and we just discussed them on paper resulting in the presentation of only one (wheels on a pipe) presented in class.